I started drinking coffee pretty early in my life. I remember trying it for the first time on my 8th grade class’ trip to Costa Rica. My host family served me coffee in the mornings, and I loved the energy it gave me. When I came to Lick, the Caf’s coffee was often a welcome solace to the daze that would often plague me at school. By sophomore year, I was drinking coffee every day. Junior year, I’d sometimes have 2 cups on days when I’d spent the previous night doing homework late.
I love coffee. It makes me feel fantastic and energetic. I get way more stuff done, and I’m in a better mood. Now that it’s second semester senior year, I wanted to see its effects on me, and I decided to try not drinking coffee for a week.
The first day was absolutely horrendous. Instead of eventually waking up like I thought I would, I felt worse and worse as time went on. I had a headache, everyone peeved me, and doing schoolwork was immensely challenging. However, I was determined to make it through the day. My symptoms persisted until I went to track, where the running mitigated some of the effects and I felt a little better.
The next day started out like the first day. I had a math quiz, and decided that it wasn’t worth it so I drank some black tea. It was a surprising relief. Instead of blasting energy through my system like coffee did, the tea relieved my withdrawal symptoms woke me up steadily over a period of time. I had a more mellow day without the crazy caffeine boost that I was used to.
I didn’t drink anything the next day, and it was also terrible. Not as terrible as the first day, but I still had a headache. I was getting pretty sick of this whole not drinking coffee thing.
By the fourth day, I was REALLY done with this whole experiment. Despite the fact that my familiar fatigued state was less intense than it started, I decided to end my struggle. I drank a large cup of coffee, and as I took the first sip, I instantly felt better. However, after finishing the cup, I was too wired. My heart was beating very fast, I was jittery, and I didn’t feel that much more mentally awake.
On the fifth day, I remembered how nice the black tea was when I drank it two days earlier. So instead of coffee, I drank that. It woke me up in a wonderfully wholesome way, giving me solid and mature energy.
Thus, through my experiment, I discovered the wonders of tea. I’ve stopped drinking coffee every single day, something which I’m sure will save me time and money in the future. I recommend black tea for those looking for a booster in the mornings.
